The Life of Sandra Dee, Actress and Teen Icon

Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942–February 20, 2005) was an actress known for the squeaky-clean image developed early in her film career. She helped kick off the teen beach movie craze in her 1959 titular role in Gidget. Dee was one of the top ten box office stars for four consecutive years from 1960 through 1963. 

Early Life and Modeling Career

Growing up in Bayonne, New Jersey, Alexandra Zuck lived in a Russian Orthodox community. She adopted her stage name, Sandra Dee, at an early age, and used it when she began modeling and acting in commercials. Dee's parents divorced in 1950 when she was still a young child.

Legendary film producer Ross Hunter claimed to have discovered Sandra Dee on New York City's Park Avenue with her mother when she was twelve years old. Dee soon became a high-paid teen fashion model with a reported salary of $75,000 at age 14. As a model, Dee struggled with anorexia nervosa. She continued to battle the eating disorder for the rest of her life. 

Teen Movie Star

In 1957, Sandra Dee ended her modeling career and moved to Hollywood to pursue acting. She studied at the Hollywood Professional School for teens working in film and graduated from University High School in Los Angeles in 1958. Her motion picture debut came in the 1957 film Until They Sail. Dee's performance earned her a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. She shared it with Carolyn Jones and Diane Varsi.

Sandra Dee appeared in multiple films in the late 1950s, but her significant breakthrough occurred when she appeared as a featured actress in 1959's big budget success Imitation of Life. Among her co-stars were Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, John Gavin, and Troy Donahue. Capitalizing on Dee's growing visibility, Columbia Pictures borrowed her away from her contract with Universal and gave her the starring role in Gidget. The 1959 teenage beach comedy helped start the beach movie phenomenon and made Sandra Dee one of the top box office stars. 

Later in 1959, Sandra Dee appeared in A Summer Place as Troy Donahue's teen girlfriend. The film was another massive hit and cemented Dee's good-girl image. At the end of 1960, Sandra Dee was listed at #7 among the top box office stars. She took over the "Tammy" role (originated by Debbie Reynolds) in the 1961 film Tammy Tell Me True, which co-starred John Gavin. Another 1961 hit was Come September, co-starring Rock Hudson and Bobby Darin. One of Dee's last big hits was 1963's Take Her, She's Mine in which she appeared as James Stewart's teen daughter.

Marriage to Bobby Darin

Sandra Dee met fellow teen idol Bobby Darin while filming Come September in late 1960. Come September was Darin's first acting role, but he was already a major pop star. His singles "Splish Splash," "Mack the Knife," and "Dream Lover" were massive hits in the 1950s. After a one-month courtship, Sandra Dee married Bobby Darin on December 1, 1960.

The couple had a son, Dodd Mitchell Darin, in 1961, and they continued to appear in movies together. One of their most successful joint ventures was 1962's If a Man Answers, which earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture - Comedy. 

By the late 1960s, Sandra Dee's stardom was fading, and in 1967 she divorced Bobby Darin. Six years after the divorce, in 1973, Bobby Darin died of complications of heart surgery at age 37. Sandra Dee never remarried.

Final Acting Roles

In the late 1960s, Universal Pictures dropped Sandra Dee from her acting contract. She appeared in the unsuccessful 1968 independent film Rosie! starring Rosalind Russell. After taking two years off, Dee co-starred with Dean Stockwell in Roger Corman's The Dunwich Horror in 1970. The movie helped kick off an early 1970s horror renaissance, but the film itself hasn't aged well.

Sandra Dee made multiple acting appearances on TV in the 1970s. She was a star of two episodes of the horror anthology The Night Gallery in 1971 and 1972, and she appeared on Love, American Style in 1972. Sandra co-starred in the 1974 TV movie Houston, We've Got a Problem and appeared in an episode of Fantasy Island in its 1977 debut season.

Sandra Dee's final big-screen movie appearance was 1983's low-budget mountain adventure Lost. Her final TV role involved only her voice in a 1994 episode of the hit TV comedy Frasier. 

Later Life and Death

By her own description, Sandra Dee became a recluse in her later years. She was only 41 when she ended her movie career. After retreating from the public spotlight, Dee battled depression, anorexia nervosa, and alcoholism. She quit drinking after kidney failure in 2000 and spent four years on dialysis. Sandra Dee died of complications of kidney disease on February 20, 2005. She was 62 years old.

Legacy

In the 1950s and 60s, Sandra Dee was a clean-cut teenage icon. Her persona as a wholesome ingénue was memorably satirized in the Broadway musical and film versions of ​Grease. The song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee," sung by the character Rizzo, pokes fun at the lead character Sandy for her wholesome personality. Reportedly, Sandra Dee was always amused by the song.

The 2004 feature film Beyond the Sea depicted the life of Bobby Darin. Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth starred as Darin and Sandra Dee, and Dodd Mitchell Darin collaborated with filmmakers on the project. Beyond the Sea received mixed reviews and was a box office failure, but Kevin Spacey earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for his portrayal of Bobby Darin.

Sources

• Darin, Dodd. Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee. Warner Books, 1994. 
• Starr, Michael. Bobby Darin: A Life. Taylor Publishing, 2004.